Agriculture plays a vital role in India's economy. At 157.35 million hectares, India holds the second largest agricultural land in the world, according to the India Brand Equity Foundation. India also has an advantage by having all 15 major climates in the world, creating diverse environments for a plethora of crops and animal production within the country. India is the largest producer of spices, pulses, milk, tea, cashew, and jute, and the second largest producer of wheat, rice, fruits & vegetables, sugarcane, cotton, and oilseeds.

Around 60% rural Indian households make their living from agriculture, Inc42 reports. According to India's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, agricultural services and agricultural machinery sectors have cumulatively attracted foreign direct equity inflow of about US$ 2.45 billion. From April 2000 to June 2017, the food processing sector attracted another US $7.81 billion. India's Prime Minister Modi's government aims to double the average farmer's income by 2022, which gives even more incentive to join the industry for smallholder farmers. But the smallholder farmer faces costly and untimely financing, expensive and low quality agriculture inputs, basic legacy harvesting techniques, and an opaque supply chain to market, leading to market linkage issues. These factors translate to the Indian smallholder farmer being one of the few business entities in the world that buys at retail prices and sells at wholesale prices – inverting the fundamental economic model leading to consistent net losses and eventually debt traps.

There are companies working to change this model. For example, Jai Kisan intends to provide seamless, comprehensive, and end-to-end solutions to the fundamental problems facing the smallholder farmer.By facilitating cheap and timely capital, providing a greater variety of higher quality, less expensive agri-inputs, hand-holding farmers to increase yield; and increasing selling price through efficient market linkages, the company is trying to reverse the equation for smallholder farmers.

48% of Americans don't know where chocolate milk comes from, according to the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. That's nearly half of the population of the U.S. How did we grow so far removed from our food system? More importantly, how do we reconnect with our food system? We listed the top 4 ways to connect with the food system in 2018.

For someone who is just getting started in building their wealth, the sheer variety of investment opportunities can be intimidating. Should you go with what nearly half of Americans do and invest in the stock market? Or invest in real estate and flip houses like you see on TV? Or should you just throw money from your paycheck into a retirement fund? Everyone has to make that judgement for themselves, but it's important to at least know you have options. One investing opportunity many millennials may not know about is the option to grow your wealth over the long term with agriculture.

Hydroponics can rapidly help serve unmet demands for fresh organic vegetables, grown close to their market. Though limited by volume, growing food in hydroponic greenhouses has many advantages. Because the greenhouse's temperature and inputs can be precisely controlled, plants grow faster and face fewer diseases than their counter-parts outside in soil. A closed-loop irrigation system results in major water savings and uses less fertilizer, while not introducing pollutants into groundwater and soil. These greenhouses can be adapted to many different crops, and facilitate ease of rotation, which enable the farmers to more quickly react to changing consumer demand. Finally, growing hydroponic vegetables closer to consumers will help reverse the trend of foreign produce imports and transporting food across the oceans.

We're often asked, "are these investments risky?" Of course, every investment has some level of risk, but agriculture can be one of the safest asset classes if the risks are managed properly. Investors should understand how risks are reduced in any particular asset and agriculture is no different.

Agriculture offers a solid way to gain exposure to what the investment community calls "emerging markets," and the even less developed, "frontier markets." Emerging markets, like Brazil, are attractive to investors due to their rapid economic growth and industrialization. Frontier markets have lower market capitalization and liquidity than the more developed, emerging markets. Though these definitions aren't universally agreed upon, the investment research firm MSCI has defined these categories and routinely updates their index to reflect the relative status of each country.

As we scroll down the list of healthy alternatives we find little gems that are quite often overlooked and certainly not always available at our nearest convenience store. These are the superfoods; natural foods with amazingly high concentrations of nutrients beneficial to our health and well-being.

One such superfood dear to our heart here at the Belize Cacao Consortium is the sun dried, mahogany coloured seeds we call cacao.

When we look at future generations, a majority of us would agree it’s important for them to have a safe and healthy world to live in, with plenty of resources available to sustain life. Achieving this image starts with what we, as a society, do today. Sustainable agriculture is just one way people are preparing for a better future, and there’s a way for all of us to get involved.

The Trump administration’s promise of tax reform has investors across the country wondering how their portfolios will be impacted should this promise be fulfilled. Given the deal is still in negotiation between the House, Senate, and Administration, it’s hard to nail down specifics. However, farmland owners and investors in agriculture would can review the House of Representative’s Unified Framework for tax reform to better understand what this reform could mean to their investments.

Savvy investors have long realized the advantages of owning real, tangible assets, especially those backed by underlying land. Real estate, both commercial and residential, is probably most familiar to alternative investors. But agriculture offers many of the same benefits, and can help diversify the real asset portions of a portfolio. In most cases, both commercial real estate and agriculture produce yield by collecting rents from tenants and returns from the appreciating value of land and the improvements on that land.

For most of us, going to the grocery store involves creating a shopping list, fighting through crowds in the meat department, and dreading the lines at the cash register. There’s not much thought about how the food got there, or where the money came from to produce such a large amount of food needed to supply grocery store shelves. You may just think it’s all on the farmer, which in the past, it very well was.

In today’s age, there are opportunities to invest in agriculture and make a difference in what ends up in grocery stores. Yes, you can invest in agriculture, and no you don’t have to be a farmer. Take a look at the other top myths about investing in agriculture.

Similar to stocks or other traditional assets, agricultural investments can include many different sectors within the industry as a whole. With all of the available options, how does one decide which types of crops to invest in? One of the most common options is row crops. These commodity crops‒such as wheat, corn, and soybeans‒are staples of almost every country’s diet, and have historically been used by investors as a hedge against inflation. In addition to being consumed, these products are often used in feed for livestock and are the raw ingredients of almost everything we eat. The need for these crops will never subside; grains, corn, and soy are so prevalent in the food industry that demand is guaranteed to stand the test of time. The United States is the largest grain exporter in the world by quite a significant margin, and recent price stability is a good sign for both farmers and investors alike.

It’s no secret that the stock market is the most common choice for most investors attempting to build their nest eggs. Millions of Americans regularly add stocks to their retirement accounts with the expectation that their hard-earned dollars are safe. Market cycles and inevitable corrections are a normal part of investing. However, some analysts are predicting that the next stock market crisis could eclipse that of 2007-2008. Cash, the traditional safe haven for investors, is not attractive due to persistent historically low interest rates, and large cash positions are continually eroded by inflation. This largely unprecedented environment has investors scrambling to protect their financial wealth and secure yield through alternative investments.

What do tonight’s dessert and your next investment have in common? Potentially chocolate, or cacao plants, at least. Consumer demand for specialty cacao beans continues to grow and is actually outpacing farmers’ ability to grow it in some areas. The demand for specialty or flavored beans used in premium dark chocolate goods is rising even faster than the traditional bulk cacao beans used in other candy that many farmers are used to growing. Like many other soft commodities, the production of cacao is concentrated in a small group of mostly developing countries in the tropics. These farms are susceptible to extreme weather, conflicts, credit shortages, and lack of working capital. Even so, cacao farms present an attractive option for investors looking for relatively low-risk opportunities.

Craft beer is sweeping the nation and changing the beverage industry. Parts of the farming industry have also undergone some major changes thanks to the surge in popularity of small-batch brews. Craft beer uses more key ingredients per batch than their large, national competitors. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average craft beer uses 3-7 times as much malt per barrel as a mass market beer. In addition to malt, which comes from barley, the demand for hops to brew IPAs has increased dramatically.

Though sometimes overshadowed by Brazil’s political turmoil, the country’s agriculture sector nevertheless remains strong and competitive in the global market. There are large tracts of underdeveloped land that hold much potential for investors willing to put in the necessary capital to convert pastureland to farmland. It is expected that the world population will surpass 9 billion by 2050, meaning food production will have to increase by 70% to meet demand. Brazil is perfectly suited to accommodate this growing demand due to the availability of land.

Crowdfunding is probably a word you have heard thrown around more and more in the past few years, but you may still be unsure of exactly what it encompasses. That’s a reasonable response because crowdfunding has come to mean different things to different people. There are two major types of crowdfunding: donation-based crowdfunding like Kickstarter or GoFundMe, and investment, or equity crowdfunding. Most people are generally familiar with platforms like Kickstarter, but may not have as much experience with equity crowdfunding. While equity crowdfunding also raises money via an internet platform, the two are vastly different. To clear up any confusion between the two different types of crowdfunding, we have outlined the major differences between them.

Genetically modified organism (GMO) crops were first introduced to the market over 20 years ago as an environmentally-friendly solution to the problem of producing food for a rapidly growing world population. In many parts of the world, they are still seen as the solution for malnutrition, like these bananas that were created to provide children with vital nutrition they were lacking. They are genetically engineered to include traits such as resistance to weeds and pests, allowing farmers to use fewer pesticides. However, in some cases, weeds adapted and became more resistant to herbicide, meaning farmers had to increase their use of it. In addition to the concerns about the safety of ingesting GMOs, consumers began to worry about the health concern of more herbicides being consumed. Recently, the popularity of non-GMO crops has risen, as consumers seek out GMO-free products and farmers return to planting conventional seeds.

Agriculture is a broad, ever-changing field that is rapidly advancing to keep up with global consumers and increase yields and profits. A more slowly-evolving sector has been access to financing. Equity crowdfunding is an emerging option to help farmers obtain capital.

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